I’ve always liked to ride around in the country, but these days it has just gotten so ugly with hate that it’s difficult to enjoy. Trump signs are everywhere, proudly advertising the homeowner’s hatred of all things humanity has ever considered decent and proper. Most are not so open as the one above. Their signs are understated red, white and blue. But beneath that facade, they are little or no different than the above photo. Hatred, hatred of American values, of any kind of religious values, of decent values by any standard. There is a terrible moral crisis in rural America.
But this reality I see when riding around in the country (both these photos are from Posey County, and not far apart) is much different than what is reported in the national, or even the local, media. Nearly all the Trump signs are in the front yards of the wealthier residents. They are very few and far between in working class yards. No, the typical anti-American Trump loyalist is not the guy you see on the news in camo carrying an AR-15, he is a grey haired old man, living well off his pension, his healthcare taken care of by the government. The younger working class is nowhere near as stupid as they are portrayed. The old people, well, so many of them have become a national disgrace.
But as the picture below of grafitti under a rural railroad bridge shows, not all country people have been brainwashed into imbecility. There are still young people who understand what is happening, and rebel against the old hypocrites who preach one thing and then do something entirely different. I wouldn’t go so far as to say there is hope for the future, but rurality is much different than portrayed on TV.
